1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a semiconductor memory apparatus, and more particularly, to data mask technology of a semiconductor memory apparatus.
2. Related Art
In general, a semiconductor memory apparatus provides a data mask function. Such a data mask function refers to a function of masking a signal transmitted to a write driver, when a data mask signal is activated, such that data of a global line is not inputted to a local line so as not to be written into a cell.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a part of a write path of a known semiconductor memory apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 1, when a write command is activated, a data signal and a data mask signal are inputted to a data input unit 10 and a data mask input unit 20 of the known semiconductor memory apparatus, respectively.
The data signal inputted in such a manner is transmitted to a repeater 30 through a global data line GDL, and the data mask signal is transmitted to the repeater 30 through a global data mask line GDML.
The data signal and the data mask signal transmitted in such a manner are amplified by the repeater 30, and then inputted to a write driver 40 through the global data line GDL and the global data mask line GDML.
The write driver 40 is configured to receive the data signal and the data mask signal, and determine whether the data signal is masked or not. According to the determination result, the write driver 40 transmits a data signal, which is not masked, to a local line (not illustrated), or does not transmit a masked data signal to the local line.
As such, the known semiconductor memory apparatus transmits the data signal and the data mask signal, which are inputted to the data input unit 10 and the data mask input unit 20, respectively, to the write driver 40 through the global data line GDL and the global data mask line GDML, respectively.
However, since the known semiconductor memory apparatus includes the global data mask line GDML for transmitting the data mask signal, the size of the semiconductor memory apparatus may increase due to the area where the global data mask line GDML is formed, and thus the net die of the semiconductor memory apparatus may decrease.